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that I, as the dry cleaner, don’t trust you to pay
me.
    “ I trust your payment
processor—the Visa, or MasterCard, or PayPal, or Apple Pay—whatever
payment processor you use. Once they allow the transaction, I don’t
worry if you’re going to pay your bill. And you don’t have to trust
me with your financial details. You trust the payment processor and
authorize the transaction.
    “ Bitcoin gives you the
ability to ditch the payment processor. You can cut
out—completely disintermediate— the middle man. This is possible
because the Blockchain allows for decentralized trust.
    “ The Blockchain is a
shared ledger—think of a spreadsheet—that everyone in the world can
simultaneously view. The Blockchain contains all the records, of
all the transactions, ever conducted with Bitcoin. It’s completely
transparent.
    “ Everyone can see the
record of the transactions—two Bitcoins went to this address, 1000
Bitcoins went to that address. It’s important to understand that
the addresses are not personally identifiable. Once the
transactions are agreed upon, and
entered onto the Blockchain, they can’t be changed . Everyone owns the
Blockchain; no one controls
it .
    “ This is a big concept,
so I want to make sure I highlight it. The right person can only add the right
amounts . Once it’s recorded, t he transaction
can’t be modified. Cryptography and encryption make the transaction tamper-proof. This
ensures that the Blockchain is
trustworthy. No company has to guarantee that it’s trustworthy. I’m
concentrating on the business aspects of Bitcoin and the
Blockchain. I mean, the underlying technology is sophisticated —but I want you to get Blockchain from a business
perspective.
    “ This is the critical point . When the dry cleaner accepts
Bitcoin, they trust the Blockchain. They don’t have to trust a payment
processor. More importantly—they don’t have to pay a transaction
fee to a payment processor.
    “ As the dry cleaner, I
trust that you own the Bitcoins
that you are giving me, and that you
haven’t spent them anywhere else. Then, your Bitcoins become mine.
Now, only I can use them.
Or anyone else that has access to my
passcode—but that’s a separate issue. The Blockchain records all of
this. And again, encryption and cryptography allow you to trust
it.”
    Watkins stopped to take a breath. “Are you following
me?”
    “ Yes,” said Samantha,
“enough at least. But we’re not so concerned with Bitcoin; we’re
using it ourselves to pay the Gamers. We want to make sure that
these Gamers can’t claim that Gamification Systems is their
employer. We not only want to avoid tax issues, but we don’t want to be
liable if the Gamers injure themselves, like if they trip and fall
during a VR session. The Pokemon Go lawsuits raised a lot of
eyebrows.”
    “ Right,” replied Watkins.
“So hang on just a little longer. What I’ve just described is what’s been
going on for the last 10 years—let’s call it Blockchain
1.0—Blockchain only related to Bitcoin.
    “ Most of the companies’
recently going public—BitSa, BitMents, the Bitcoin wallet
providers—those type of businesses are focused on Blockchain
1.0. BitSa processes payments for less than 1%. Credit card
companies typically charge a 3-5% per transaction fee. So that’s
pretty disruptive. The big banks are also heavily employing the
Blockchain to clear transactions.
    “ Arguably, you can call
Bitcoin the first killer app that uses the Blockchain. I mean,
Bitcoin has had its ups and downs over the years. It had a massive
run up in value, and then it crashed. N ow
that the price of Bitcoin has stabilized, it’s
on a nice growth curve.
    “ But, let’s talk about
Blockchain 2.0. This is the Blockchain applied to other ideas than
Bitcoin. And now, I’ll directly address your employment issue. Have
you guys heard of BlockHR?”
    “ A little,” replied
Samantha. “I read a blurb about them in Fortune . They’re something